Cornell & Diehl Night Train

With my purchases of C&D blends being well researched here before I invest, I have failed to experience one of Tarler's creations which does not please me. This one goes straight to the top of the list. I (in my most unqualified opinion) consider this to be a variant of the VAPer class. The addition of the burley along with a heavier portion of Perique kicks Night Train up a notch on the flavor scale in comparison to, say, Escudo. I first smoked this in a Barling saddle pot and only found it somewhat difficult to keep lighted. Upon the first few puffs an Escudo-like flavor was immediately evident but that quickly changed as the spicier aspect of Night Train came on full force (and I was drawing lightly). The burley seems to round out the Virginias nicely giving, at times, a buttery taste. I love this blend. My non-smoker wife pronounced the room note as "Very nice" (but I have been bombing her with Latakia based blends for so long she might be biased toward any change). At around half the price of Escudo (which I will still buy whenever I find it), this goes into the once/twice per week spot in rotation. Not an all day blend unless one has a rather placid livelihood as it will relax one quite well, too well. I also appreciated a burn lasting well over an hour and a half.

Night train is a very enjoyable smoke however, it was a bit hard to keep lit when smoked immediately from the tin. After a day or two, the tobacco dried to a perfect temp. and improved noticably. I really enjoy this blend and highly recommend it to the English fan.

UPDATE 2/10/09: I've found this smokes wonderfully in a 1950's vintage Kaywoodie 1/4 bent meerschaum prince. For some reason the shallow, wide bowl brings out the flavor for me a lot better than a tall narrow bowled churchwarden that I had originally started smoking this in. Try a few different shapes out for yourself, there is a noticeable difference.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 1/27/09: When I first got the 1 oz chunk of Night Train I was skeptical. It really didn't have a specific smell to it other than tobacco and maybe a hint of sweet spiciness. At that point I had set myself up for disappointment. I was impressed with the way the "block" rubbed out into larger flakes. The moisture was perfect. Those two facts don't make a good smoke.

When I first placed match to tobacco then all that predetermined disappointment chugged away with each puff of smoke. This is an absolutely flavor packed smoke that really gives you a good punch of perique that melds with the virginias. A wonderful spicy tartness developed as the bowl progressed with hints of sweetness here and there. One thing I must caution is that the nicotine kick will have your stomach doing flip flops if you don't have at least something in there to fight off the Vitamin N. I'm not very sensitive to nicotine but even this one had me wishing I had a snack before the smoke.

This is not an every day smoke for me but it has left enough of an impression that I get a hankering for it every now and then. This is my first tobacco I've tried from C&D and if this is a portent of their other offerings I will be stocking up with all I can.

A four star smoke that would be a perfect after dinner smoke especially after Thanksgiving or Christmas. If you enjoy perique this would be a wonderful place to step aboard. I wouldn't recommend this for the novice. If I had tried this while I was new to pipe smoking I probably would have quit right then and there. Now that I've got some years under my belt it helps me to appreciate this blend that much more.

I'm into cigars so I just had to try this stuff after all the reviews. I smoked a bowl when it first arrived four months ago, and was only mildly impressed. Maybe I smoked it too fast. Don't know how old this stuff was when I received it, but it seems to have improved with only a few months of aging. This morning I filled a mid-sized billiard about 3/4 full and fired 'er up. Yum! Can't wait to crack open my little Ball jar a year from now!

This tobacco smokes itself. Burns very smoothly and predictably, never had to relight. Can't emphasize enough to puff it very, very s-l-o-w-l-y during the first half-bowl. Too fast and the briar heats up and the taste gets too sharp. Nurse it and the virginias come through admirably, however half way down I found that a bit more aggression brings out a lot of richness.

The flavor is not overly complex, and it stays quite consistent throughout the bowl except for a bit more toastiness and creaminess near the bottom. The excellent aftertaste reminds me of when I was a kid visiting my uncles' barn, with the smell of old hay, manure and feed. You country boys will know what I mean.

I have very few vapers in my stash because I'm very particular about them, but this seems a perfect blend of sweet (VA) and bitter (PER), blessing the puffer with a really well-balanced, rich, strong smoke with absolutely no bite. I would love some suggestions for other great vapers.

Cigar smokers will love this one.

Rub it out, don't "chunk" it. This tobacco lights and burns well and the moisture content is right on. The taste, to me, is right on the money as well. I wasn't knocked down by the nicotine. It was noticeable, but not over the top.

All in all, this is a very good smoke that I recommend. The name sounds too much like bum wine though, and that probably drives some potential purchasers away. Nobody likes to picture themselves drinking Night Train from a bottle wrapped in a paper sack...

Mr. Tarler has a special ability to manipulate traditional mixtures such as the "Virginia/Perique" with the addition of top notch Burley tobaccos. It is a bold maneuver such as this that distinguishes Mr. Tarler's innovative approach to 21st Century tobacco blending. Mr. Tarler is truly a Master Blender. Night Train is an outstanding mixture loaded with Virginia Perique flavor,old fashion strength and connoisseur appeal.

Great looking crumble cake, wonderful pouch aroma. Doesn?t need any time in the drying pan, just break it and pack it. As other reviewers have noted, it does benefit from ?sipping??smoaking this full-throttle like you would McClelland?s St. Jame?s Flake or Sam Gawith?s FVF will make your head reel (from the nicotine) and tongue burn into the bargain. Excellent for those late working nights?better than caffeine?or when you don?t have time to stop and eat. As a Va/Per, however, it?s not the tangy soul-mate experience my **** ne plus ultra (the McClelland St. James Flake). Night Train?s perique is there and the Virginia is there, but both are several cars down from the burley. The room note also has that (to me) unpleasant burley cigarette smoke reek. In fact, it reminds me alot of my overnight trips on AmTrack twenty years ago?a bit of mystery and a bit of discomfort. Probably not a trip I?ll make again.

I don't have much to add to the other reviews. Suffice it to say, this stuff is wonderful. It's presented as a crumble cake and smokes beautifully even when you just drop a chunk into your pipe, but you can rub it out if you want to. The flavor is deep, dark and sweet -- the effect is similar to that of a very dark chocolate. It'll bite if you're not careful, so go slowly. As others have pointed out, it's also got a serious nicotine punch (which I like). I can't quite give it four stars, but it is nonetheless well worth trying out.

Woooo Woooo, it?s time to hop on the train. The C & D Night Train that is.

Everyone who I talked to about this blend had the same response. ?Get ready, you?re in for a ride. I hope you like nicotine!!? And then they would usually chuckle. They all told me that this was one strong smoke and not to smoke it on an empty stomach.

I ordered a 4 oz sample of this from pipesandcigars.com and it arrived in brick form so I quickly started pulling it apart and rubbing it out a little bit. It seems to have the perfect moisture content straight away. I put this in a jar to let it rest a bit after rubbing it out and unfortunately I forgot about it. Now it?s about two months later and I think that it?s about time to break this stuff out and give it a whirl.

Right off the bat this blend gives off a sweet/sour fruity kind of taste. Delicious in my opinion. The spiciness of the Perique also kicks in very early on. Whoa, I can tell already that this one is going to pack a punch. This blend stays lit better than most that I have encountered. But watch out because if you start puffing on this too fast you will regret it. I let it get away from me one time when I was reading and not paying attention. Didn?t really notice anything except the spiciness of the Perique became almost overwhelming and the next thing I know my head starts to swirl from the nicotine. I actually had to put the pipe down and go to bed after that one.

If you take your time with this and sip on it very slowly it is a very, very good smoke. The sweet/sour flavor remains pretty consistent throughout the smoke but the sour takes over a bit near the end but not in a bad way. The spiciness of the Perique is present the whole way through and really adds to this blend I feel. It adds a kind of dark spice that plays in contrast to the sweet/sour flavor that I mentioned.

I assume that the room aroma is as strong as the blend because at one point my wife walked out on the porch and said, ?Man, that stuff smells like it would kick your butt!? She wasn?t far off of the mark.

While I wouldn?t recommend this to a new pipe smoker, if you have a few years under your belt I would highly recommend it. Some people enjoy the stronger stuff and some don?t. I think that I lie somewhere in between. While I will definitely keep this on hand for an occasional smoke there is no way that I could smoke this on a daily basis. For those of you who may be cigar smokers I would compare this blend to the La Flor Dominica Chisel. This is so far the strongest blend that I have smoked so far in this genre but it mixes strength with great taste and that is what sets it apart